Sierra Leone: RSF condemns impunity around cyber-harassment of investigative journalist Chernoh Alpha M. Bah
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the attacks on Chernoh Alpha M. Bah for his reports on corruption and embezzlement involving senior government officials. Pressure from Sierra Leonean political figures and their supporters is preventing Bah from returning to his country and hindering his investigative work. The authorities must guarantee Bah’s safety so he can resume his journalistic work in Sierra Leone.
“You have a family to feed and a wife that is looking up to you. Don't get yourself into situations that would be beyond your imagination,” an employee of Sierra Leone’s Iranian embassy wrote to Chernoh Alpha M. Bah in late 2023. “Enough is enough of your braggadocio investigating journalism."
For the past four years, death threats and cyber harassment have been regular occurrences for Bah, a Sierra Leonean journalist and refugee in the United States. Bah is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the independent online media Africanist Press. Since 2020, this US-hosted news website has published a number of public interest investigations into government corruption, including financial scandals involving former head of government David John Francis and the country's first lady, Fatima Maada Bio.
Bah has been the victim of persecution and pressure since his investigations began, both from political figures – such as the first lady, who lambasted him for almost thirty minutes during a Facebook live in 2021 – and from anonymous internet users sending him insulting or threatening private messages. “I have to be constantly blocking phone numbers and Facebook accounts regularly to avoid receiving them but they haven’t stopped,” he told RSF.
The journalists who continue to work for Africanist Press from Sierra Leone write anonymously for fear of the repercussions, according to RSF’s information.
Publishing investigations into the country's governance should never lead to backlash against this investigative journalist or journalism in general. Instead of seeing Bah as a voice to be silenced, Sierra Leonean authorities should recognise and respect his right to inform the public and do his job. RSF strongly condemns the persecution and recurrent online threats against independent journalism, and in particular against Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, and calls on the authorities to not just investigate these threats but provide guarantees that Bah will be able to resume his work in Sierra Leone in complete safety.
Accused of treason and inciting rebellion in his homeland, Bah also faces attacks from official institutions. In 2021, the Central Bank of Sierra Leone wrote to the Ministry of Justice to initiate legal proceedings against Bah and his media for allegedly publishing confidential information; no arrest warrant was issued. That same year, Bah was officially granted political refugee status in the United States, where he had been living since 2016. Bah has been unable to return to Sierra Leone since, despite his desire to continue his work there.
In 2022, Sierra Leone’s Office of National Security (ONS) expressed concern “about the repercussions of Africanist Press articles on the peace and stability of the country,” in a letter to Sierra Leone’s media regulator. That same year, the Africanist Press’ social media accounts and website were hacked, according to Bah. The director of the ONS, Francis Langumba Keili, declined to answer RSF’s questions.
